The Recruit | |
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Directed by | Roger Donaldson |
Produced by | Jeff Apple Gary Barber Roger Birnbaum |
Written by | Roger Towne Kurt Wimmer Mitch Glazer |
Starring |
Al Pacino Colin Farrell Bridget Moynahan Gabriel Macht |
Music by | Klaus Badelt |
Cinematography | Stuart Dryburgh |
Edited by | David Rosenbloom |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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115 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $101.2 million |
The Recruit is a 2003 American spy thriller film, directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Al Pacino, Colin Farrell and Bridget Moynahan. It was produced by Epsilon Motion Pictures and released in North America by Touchstone Pictures on January 31, 2003, receiving mixed reviews from critics. The film's tagline is: "In the C.I.A. nothing is what it seems."
James Clayton (Colin Farrell), a computer programming expert at MIT, impresses several business and consulting experts with a course project called, "Spartacus", a program designed to hijack nearby computers through a wireless network. Having taken note of his skills, senior Central Intelligence Agency instructor Walter Burke (Al Pacino) also approaches Clayton to recruit him for a position with the Agency. Unlike the other offers, Burke makes it clear that while the CIA cannot offer the fame or money of the other offers, it will be a chance to put his skills to use in the service of his country; alternately, Clayton agrees because he wants information about his missing father, who, he suspects, was a CIA agent.
After passing numerous psychometric, psychoanalytic, aptitudinal, and polygraphic tests, Clayton is taken to The Farm, a CIA training facility. There, Burke and other instructors teach the candidates the skill sets of espionage, covert operation protocols, and intelligence gathering techniques. During a surveillance exercise, Clayton and fellow recruit Layla Moore (Bridget Moynahan) are kidnapped by men apparently from a foreign intelligence service. Clayton is tortured in a cell for several days, but refuses to give up the names of his instructors. When the interrogators show him evidence that they have also tortured Layla, Clayton gives in. The rear wall of the cell opens to reveal Burke, Layla, and the other recruits sitting in a lecture theater, having witnessed the whole event, which was a set-up to demonstrate the importance of evading capture.